Vol. XII. No. 291. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



201 



A West Indian Court. 



A communication has recently been received 

 from the Secretary of the West India Committee 

 with reference to the possibilities of arranging a West 

 Indian Court at the First International Cotton and 

 Trojiical Products Exhibition to be held in June 1914. 

 In this letter it is stated that the West India Com- 

 •iiiittee will be glad to co-operate with the various 

 Permanent Exhibition Committees in the West Indies, 

 and with the Imperial Department of Agricu]tur<=, by 

 taking charge of the Court, and by making the general 

 arrangements as to details. It is further noted thit 

 the desirability of having a West Indian Court at the 

 Exhibition has already received attention in the 

 Cimdar of iMay (>, 19l:i. Further information is 

 contained in the letter in reply to an enquiry by the 

 Imperial Commissioner as to the cost per unit of 

 space at the Exhibition. This is stated to be 4s. per 

 square foot, and it is estimated that the minimum 

 cost at which each individual Colony could participate 

 would be £50. On the occasion of the Rubber E.'ihibi- 

 tion the general expenses and space occupied were 

 as follows: Trinidad and Tobsgo £192, for 13 x 16 feet; 

 Dominica, £49 KJs., for 10x10 feet; Jamaica £30, 

 for 10 X 10 feet; British Guiana, £44 19.s. Id. (exclu- 

 sive of SDace). 



Rubber in the Congo. 



In an article appearing in Diplomatic and C'on- 

 sidar Rejmrfs, No. -5043 — Annual Series, results are 

 given of the experimental work carried out in the 

 Congo, in regard to the planting and maintenance 

 of rubber vines. This is said not to have met with 

 much success from a practical point of view. The 

 Ireh, or Funtumia, was the first species tried, and 

 great hopes were entertained as to its ultimate success; 

 many plantations having been established in the 

 Congo by the State, until ihere are now over 3,500,000 

 trees. Experiments were also made with Hevea 

 hrasilicnsis, but this variety failed to give encourag- 

 ing results, owing, it is believed, to incorrect methods of 

 tapping. The results, however, obtained by the Malay 

 States from Hevea have led to a re-awakening of 

 interest among Congo planters in the cultivation of 

 this rubber plant. The State-cultivated area has been 

 increased from 2,920 acres in 1910 to 4,110 acres in 

 1911, and 780 acres of this area were planted with 

 Hevea hrasilicnsis, the rest with Funtumia and Mani- 

 hot glaziovii. 



The results produced have been extremely vari- 

 able, and in certain regions, such as the Mayumbe, the 

 Funtumia does not seem to flourish well. All the 

 experiments with it throughout have shown that it 

 cannot be profitably tapped under the best conditions 

 of cultivation before eight to ten years' growth. It grows 

 beat in regions where the rainfall does not exceed 4.') to 

 -55 inches, and on soil of a mixture of sand and clay. The 

 coagulation of Funtumia latex appears to be more 

 •difficult than that of Hevea, andt':2 use of acids does 

 not give as a rule satisfactory reswlts. Coagulation by 

 precipitation in boiling water is the system which ha.s 

 given the best results in the Congo. 



A new method of tapping by means of a series of 

 small boxes set in a circle has been^de vised by a British 

 expert now in the Congo, Dr. Chris^',-and is expected 

 to yield results in tapping about double those secured 

 by the vertical incision system. The average results 

 obtained by the latter en the State plantations of 

 Funtumia shows 31ft). ot rubber to the acre at one 

 tapping of seven-year- old trees, whilst the Christy 

 system can give as much as 97 ft. to the acre. 



The number of Manihot trees on the State 

 plantations in 1908 was 205,081, in 1910 it had fallen 

 to 125,032. 



A further note on the cultivation of rubber in the 

 Congo will be found in the Agricultural News,Yo\. XII, 

 No. 280, p. 124. 



Fifth Annual Exhibit: on of the Colonial Insti- 

 tute of Marseilles. 



On April 10, IQV-)., the Exhibition of co^Yees, 

 cacaos, teas, vanilla and sugars which had been opened 

 to the public during the pa.st. three months, came to an 

 end. An account of the final proceedings including, 

 the distribution of prices and awards, is dealt with at 

 some length in L Expansion Colonial for May 1913, 

 and from this source the following notes have been 

 abstracted. 



A considerable part of the information directly con- 

 cerns the West Indies. In the section dealing with the 

 reports of the judges, the cacao sent from Martinique, 

 which obtained a first prize, was described as being very 

 well prepared and matured, having a clear light violet 

 colour and wine-hke flavour; it waS a cacao that 

 should readily find buyers. The Guadeloupe cacao 

 which was also awarded a first prize was reported 

 on as being com^josed of well-shaped beans, well 

 fermented and perfectly mature with a clear browu 

 colour; though a little acid, it possessed a good flavour. 



Several remarks are made in the report upon the 

 hybrid cacao sent from Reunion. This was stated to 

 be very high class produce, and the report goes on to 

 urge the necessity for the French tropical posses- 

 sions, particularly in West Africa, developing their 

 cacao industries in a parallel manner to that which has 

 taken place in the Gold Coast Colony. 



The formal lists of prizes at the end of the article 

 shows that in regard to cacao, three out of the five 

 grands price were awarded to the French Antilles. 

 As regards co^'ee, Guadeloupe obtained no less than 

 three out of the six awards, and Martinique one. The 

 gold medal for vanilla went to Guadeloupe, and of the 

 prizes awarded for sugar, the first was obtained by 

 Martinique. 



In conclusion it may be remarked that at this 

 exhibition the French Antilles appear to have mefc 

 with very con.siderable success; this is particularly 

 gratifying in view of th'- fact that they have had to 

 compete with much larger possessions where agricul- 

 tural production is conducted on a more extensive 

 and perhaps better organized scale, thereby affording 

 a- greater range in the selection of the exhibits. 



